Thing 20: Searching for Podcasts

Hours have passed. Podcasts everywhere. Michigan. Florida. Scotland. Australia. I only have about 120 hours of other podcasts downloaded. Now I need someone to invent a system where the entire experience/understanding will download to my brain at about 10x speed! This is the stuff of science fiction, but I'm up for it. Maybe I'll get superconducting quantum interference brain implants that will allow direct download...or maybe I'll just keep trying to balance priorities.

Podcasts are cool and I really prefer the iTunes search function, but I'm a little iritated by its lack of support for non-Apple devices. I've used Creative (brand) mp3 players for many years and I'm pretty happy with them, but the Apple software won't synchronize with it. I suppose that's a marketing strategy designed to help sell iPods and iPhones (like they need help) but with all the software and products have going for them, I'm disappointed that I can't achieve all I'd like to with my own choice of products.

I subscribed to such podcasts as "An Idiom a Day", "Literacy 2.0", "Inside the Minds of Teens and Tweens", and "Just Vocabulary." Podcasts I've got range from very short clips of a minute or two to very long complete lectures. Building them into my routine will be a bit of a challenge, because I will have to listen on my computer or manually transfer files to another player or a disc. (blech!) No doubt, this is why Apple sells so many iPods and why so many people have docking stations in their cars and clasrooms and everywhere else.

My trusty 30gb mp3 player is having schizophrenic episodes (its alternate personality must be a toaster) so I suppose I ought to consider jumping onto the bandwagon and getting an iPod. Any other suggestions, anyone?